> > A Palmdale, California, ham has had his permits to install an antenna> on his property revoked. This, after neighbors complained that his> ham radio operations were interfering with their consumer electronic> equipment and posed a threat to their safety.> > Heeding complaints from these residents, the city's Planning> Commission voted unanimously Thursday, September 27th to revoke the> minor-modification permits obtained in 2005 by Alec Zubarau, WB6X, to> erect a tower and antenna. Asoka Herath, Palmdale's director of> planning says that the vote means Zubarau will have 10 days to ask the> City Council to overturn the commission's ruling. The decision also > means that within 14 days, Zubarau must cease using the tower and any> antennas that now are considered illegal.> > Zubarau will be allowed to re-apply to the city for any permits he> would need to legally install and use other antennas. If the> commission's decision is appealed but upheld by the City Council,> Zubarau will have to dismantle the antenna tower he constructed earlier.> > Earlier this year, Zubarau's neighbors came to the city alleging his> radio transmissions were interfering with the television, radio and> telephone reception. In response, Zubarau said his radio equipment> met all standards set by the Federal Communications Commission and> should be having no effect on his neighbors. Zubarau's attorney Fred> Hopengarten, K1VR, is quoted in news reports as saying that if> interference were a problem, it would be up to those neighbors to> find, acquire and install interference-eliminating equipment.> > At least 10 people, including three attorneys, spoke in Zubarau's> defense. They advised the planning commission any interference by the> city with the operation of a ham radio station could violate federal> regulations. Attorney Pamela Royce, W6PNW, told the commission that> it should consider very carefully the cost of possible litigation if> Zubaru is forced to take his antennas down or is forced off the air. > (AV Press and others)

How very different this may have turned out if the ham would have used the friendly pro-active approach in dealing with the interference problems. One of the gentlemen hams here several years ago, literally kept quite a selection of HIGH PASS filters for cable TV, Phones, and also kept a group of TORIDS which he passed out to his neighbors like Halloween Candy for a time. His station was VERY compliant, and he knew it was the neighbor's problem of poorly designed equipment. But to tell a neighbor "SORRY it's that poorly designed 35" TV you just spent mega-bucks for that's the problem...it's junk" or to say, "I am operating within the law... it's YOUR problem." Is not the way to win friends in the radio realm. This ham (above) did NOT OFFER to physically install the stuff for the neighbors, but told neighbors why the interference was happening, gave them the filters, and told them how to hook things up. He also invited them to his home to show them that HIS TV / stereo, etc was NOT affected when he used his radios. That worked with all but one neighbor and the ham just outright BOUGHT him a phone that was interference free... (what's $40 when it means continuing to operate or close down entirely?)

A second close friend of mine had many complaints about his radio interfering with this one family's TV. It turns out that this family had used plain old unshielded "speaker wire" to extend their CABLE TV to another room... didn't even solder the connections, just twisted together... here again the ham bought them 15 feet of RG-59 with connectors, and barrels and solved the complaint. Moral of the story is WORK TOGETHER TO TRY TO SLOVE THE PROBLEM... yes, you may be within the law of operating your station, but sometimes it's better to go the extra friendly mile, than to stand your ground defiantly until the final AXE FALLS !

However, many Hams know that there are people in some neighborhoods that will start complaining about the slightest of "crackle" on a phone line.... albeit not even an RFI related related problem, just because a neighbor sees a tower going up or an antenna being erected, the slightest "glitch" in a telephone... a TV Set.. or any other consumer electronic device becomes the Amateur's fault exclusively!

I rememeber a situation where a person in my old neighborhood complained that "his microwave oven would shut off while he was cooking his supper because a Ham up the street was playing on his radio", while what turned out to be a short in this person's power cord to his microwave! (this was extreme.... but a true story!)

The man blamed the shorted power cord of the microwave oven on "the radio waves from that radio operator!"

So, sometimes.... not always.... but sometimes... there are people that will malinger about anything the minute that they see an antenna or a tower going up!

Funny, but I knew a ham who got blamed for years for every wiggly line on all of his neighbors TV screens. The real culprit turned out to be a CBer on the next street, with an old tube rig and a random length long wire antenna draped flat over his roof!

Mount your antenna but don't hook it up for 6 months. That will stop a lot of the crybabies as they will look foolish complaining about interference. Just show the authorities that the antenna isn't hooked up and watch their the looks on their faces.

>>Mount your antenna but don't hook it up for 6 months. That will stop a lot of the crybabies as they will look foolish complaining about interference. Just show the authorities that the antenna isn't hooked up and watch their the looks on their faces. <<

Reading the full story and watching the Council proceedings on the city website, it seems this Ham moved into a subdivision with underground utilities and small lots. got an in-complete permit to put up a "vertical" antenna and then put up a huge tower with a full wave 40M beam, WITHOUT ASKING HIS NEIGHBORS FIRST. And now he is surprised they don't want this monster in their back yards.

Instead of feeling sorry for him I would use him as an example of what happens if you arrogantly assume, just because you have a Ham radio license, you now have more rights than your neighbors.

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